O our Lord, the Lord of Might and Glory, we bear witness that there is no god but You. Glory to You! Truly we have wronged ourselves.

[Shahada. Wasiyyat al-Taqwa.]

Allah Most High sent the Prophet (upon him blessings and peace) out of the best Arab communities and the most eloquent of all Arab speakers. And so the Prophet (upon him blessings and peace) illuminated the way and guided mankind.

[Blessings on Prophet (upon him blessings and peace), His Family, and His Companions. Especially the Rightly-Guided Caliphs: Hadaraat Abu Bakr, `Umar, `Uthman, and `Ali—Allah be well-pleased with them.]

O Muslims in attendance, fear Allah and obey Him. Truly, Allah is with those who fear Him and do their best. O Muslims, truly Allah Most High has guided us and has made us part of the community of His Most Elect Prophet. We must therefore thank Him day and night—and whoever thanks Allah, Allah shall increase Him. Since He said, if you only give thanks, I shall most certainly grant you more. We must therefore give thanks morning and evening, early and late, until Allah Most High grants us help and victory and make us a united Community, all rallying around Prophet, upon him the best blessings and peace.

For He also said:

وَاعْتَصِمُواْ بِحَبْلِ اللّهِ جَمِيعًا وَلاَ تَفَرَّقُواْ

Wa `atasimoo bi-habli 'Llahi jamee`an wa laa tafarraqoo

And Hold fast to the rope of Allah, all of you. And do not separate. (3:103)

It is impermissible for a Muslim to part ways with his Muslim brother! Those who part ways were forbidden to do so by the Prophet upon him blessing and peace, when he said, "we are a nation of the Excellent Middle." So we must not split our ranks but rather form a united body, with all its views and thoughts. That is why we should be humble with each other. It is not allowed to be arrogant. Those who are arrogant will end up in hellfire. And those who are humble are bound for Paradise.

Haritha bin Wahb, Allah be well-pleased with him,said, I heard the Prophet sallahu aleyhi wa sallam, say, "Do you want me to tell you about the people of Paradise?"

Who are the people of paradise? Are they different from the rest? Yes! They differ in their manners. They differ in their views. They stand for Truth and Right.

Say: Truth and Right has come and falsehood has perished. Truly falsehood by its very nature is doomed to perish. (17:81)

They are those who do not create a split between two brothers. If one brother stabs his brother in the back, he is an unbeliever and he becomes one of the people of hellfire. As for the one who was wronged, he is in Paradise. Consider what happened between Cain and Abel. Cain killed his brother Abel for the sake of dunya, arrogance, and haughtiness. But Abel rejoined his Lord in His paradises for the sake of humbleness. So let us cling to humbleness, O brothers in Islam! O brothers in Imam! O brothers in ar-Rahman!

Let us be brothers in Allah Most High and Exalted. Let us not create disunity between a man and his brother, between a man and his son, between a wife and one's sons. That is why the Prophet sallalu aleyhi wa sallam asked, "Do you want me to tell you about the people of Paradise?" The people of Paradise are the winners! The People of Paradise are the winners!

He continued: "Every weak one who is treated dismissively; who, if he were to swear an oath by Allah, his Lord will certainly fulfill it." Meaning: every person or every Muslim who acts humbly with his Muslim brother and who does not act arrogantly with him by using despicable words, saying for example "Control your fools" [Daru sufaha’akum]. That is what they say! Such a statement goes back to them, they are the fools who act arrogantly with their brethren and blood-brothers!

So the Prophet (s) asked, "Do you want me to tell you about the people of Paradise?" They said "Yes, O Messenger of Allah". He said: " Every weak one who is treated dismissively and, if he were to swear by Allah, Allah would most certainly fulfill his oath." Meaning: every victim of injustice who gets wronged more and more, and he does not answer back; if he were to swear by Allah, Allah would most certainly fulfill his oath. If He makes a du`a, Allah shall answer him. Allah shall answer his supplication because he's being wronged.

As for the arrogant one, his destiny is hellfire, as the Prophet (s) informed us, saying: " Do you want me to tell you about the people of hellfire?" We all presume that the people of hellfire are the unbelievers. Yes, true, the people of hellfire are from the unbelievers but the Prophet (s), also said that some among the Muslims are from the people of hellfire; then Allah rescues them with His Mercy—that is another topic.

As for the Prophet's (s) statement, "Do you want me to tell you about the people of hellfire? Every boastful, arrogant, ignorant one" that is, one who accepts nothing from his brother, he accepts no advice, neither from his father, nor from the scholars, nor from Ahlu 's-Sunnah wa 'l-Jama`ah, nor from the mass of the Muslims at large.

O brothers in Iman, let us keep our mutual bonds of help and solidarity in every matter in this life. For this life is passing away and it is worth less than the wing of a gnat. And what weighs less than the wing of a gnat is completely worthless. It is nil. Iblis worshipped his Lord—as mentioned in the books of biographies and chronicles—for 2,000 years. And what was the result? Because of his arrogance and his vulgarity, Allah cursed him and expelled him from Paradise and should put him in hellfire on the Day of Resurrection.

We must not acquire the character of Iblis. On the contrary, we must acquire the character of the Most Beloved Chosen One. His character was the Qur'an and the Qur'an was the Speech of Allah.

Abul Abbas Sahl bin Saad al-Saa'idi, Allah be well pleased with him, relates that a man passed in front of the Prophet (s), whereupon the Prophet, (s), turned to someone next to him and said, "What do you think of this one?" meaning: One of the Muslims was passing on the road on his way, and the Prophet, (s), was sitting with some of that man's friends among the companions. So he asked one of them his opinion of that person. Give me your opinion of him. Is he someone important and respected or a common person? The man replied, "He's one of the most prominent people. That man, I swear by Allah, is most likely to reap success if he asks for someone's hand in marriage." That is he is very important, he is held in very high regard, if he goes to see a family and asks for the daughter's hand in marriage, they are most likely to accept his offer without asking any question. He is one of the most important people. "And if he intercedes for someone, his intercession will be accepted." So if you ask him to ask someone for a job or for some work on your behalf, they will listen to him because he is important and well respected.

The Prophet, (s), kept quiet and didn't reply. Then another person passed by. The Messenger of Allah, (s), asked his companion "What do you think of this one?" We understand that the first one is one of the most important of people, if he asks someone in marriage, his proposal will be accepted, etc. What do you think of the second man? This is one of the poor people, weak, he has no weight among the people, he has no influence among the Muslims. Probably if he proposes to a family, they will not accept him and if he intercedes for someone, he will fail. And if he speaks, no-one will pay attention. Meaning, if you ask something of him, he cannot get help from someone in power, like a president or a governor or a chief, because no one listens to him. If he were to ask someone's hand in marriage they would kick him out. They will say "Who are you, get away from me, woe to you!"

The Messenger of Allah, (s), said—look at the high manners of the Prophet (upon him blessings and peace), look at his character, look at his humbleness; he is always on the side of the oppressed against the oppressor. Even if the oppressed is one of the weakest people, he is always on the side of the oppressed against the oppressor. Hear, O my brother! Hear, O my nephew! Hear, O my sister! Hear, O my mother! Hear, O people of Islam! VERILY THE PROPHET (UPON HIM BLESSINGS AND PEACE) IS ON THE SIDE OF THE OPPRESSED AGAINST THE OPPRESSOR. AND ALLAH IS ON THE SIDE OF THE OPPRESSED AGAINST THE OPPRESSOR.

Even if the oppressor is a friend of Allah! Even if he's a relative!

The Prophet (upon him blessings and peace), then said: "This (second) man is better than the whole earth’s worth of that (first) one." That weak man, whom everyone disregards, who is wronged, who is rejected as a marriage candidate, who is not endorsed by anyone, whom no one listens to, is better and greater in the divine sight than that noble sharif, who prides himself for his money, wealth, and his position, and who thinks that he is a friend of Allah—but he is NOT a friend of Allah unless he repents and does good.

So the second man, the poor man, is better than the first man in the divine sight, and better than the whole world filled with the like of the first man. Even if the whole world were filled with all the noblest and most prominent people in society, and they were all put together in a place and the poor man was put opposite them, he is greater than all of them put together.

O Believers! O Muslims! We must acquire the character of the Qur'an, we must adorn ourselves with the Beloved of Allah, the Elect (upon him blessings and peace), with the Noble Manners of the Chosen One, as Allah (swt) said, Truly, you possess a Character Most Magnificent!

I have spoken my word and I ask forgiveness for myself, for you, and for all Muslims. What a victory awaits those who ask forgiveness! Astaghfirullah.